Kind of Wonderland
by Kado-Kattsune
Summary: The UN, as it turned out, was kind of like Wonderland. Which would make her kind of like Alice. It made sense, really, only she had followed a yellow bird.
1. First Sight

A/N: First off, I'd like to apologize with how short these chapters are. Hopefully they'll get longer as I go. This is a response to Ninja-chan's '10 Stages of Love' challenge on Luna. There will most likely be extra chapters, also.

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Nathaniel Blake was in a bind. The babysitter he had been relying on to take care of his daughter since his wife passed on some three months ago had acquired herself a summer internship. Leaving him with a six year old daughter and no time to find someone to watch her before he had to get to work. Which left him with only one option: to take her with him. He had been expecting her to put up a fight about having to spend the day at someplace she would consider boring but instead Lyra had seemed quite excited about the idea.

Lyra had known that her father had an important job and worked where lots of important people did, but she had only ever seen the outside of the building with its seemingly endless rows of flags she didn't recognize. The inside was even more interesting than the strange flags. The walls had paintings that looked like they belonged in history books and there were people all around, speaking in languages she wondered if they made up.

Nathaniel had been nearly to his office and halfway through telling his daughter to stick close and not to wander off when he suddenly realized that he was talking to air. The recently appointed Head of Security stopped dead, looking back the way he came for any sight of his little blonde daughter and wondering how she could have wandered off without his noticing.

There had been a bird. Lyra had saw it flying through the room and down a hallway and she had taken off after it without so much as a second thought. It wasn't until she rounded a corner too slow and lost sight of the yellow bird that Lyra realized this may not have been her best idea. The six year old wandered through the halls, generally unnoticed, as she searched for either her father or someone who spoke things she recognized as words.

Eventually, the small blonde girl came to a dead end. At least, that's what she had thought happened when she turned a corner, smacked straight into something, and ended up on her butt. Upon closer inspection, Lyra learned that she had not smacked into a wall, but a very tall- and apparently very displeased- blonde man, glaring down at her over the rim of his glasses. She looked up at him from her spot on the floor with large brown eyes and hoped that she wasn't in too much trouble. "…Hi?"


	2. Introduction

A/N: So I feel kind of like I rushed the ending of this one. Also, no, I don't think Lyra would have trouble pronouncing 'Berwald' but the thought of her calling him 'Mr. Bear' was too cute to pass up.

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As it turned out the exceptionally large man Lyra had mistaken for a wall was not angry with her at all. That was simply the face he made and once Lyra realized this he was no longer as scary as he had first seemed. Especially after he had put her back on her feet, with exceptionally little effort on his part, and patted her on the head in what Lyra could only guess to be an apology for knocking her over.

The name on the business card he had given her had been hard to pronounce so Lyra decided that she would call him 'Mr. Bear'. When she told him this, Mr. Bear had simply grunted. The small blonde girl decided that meant that he liked the nickname.

Mr. Bear hadn't seemed very pleased to learn that Lyra was lost. Not that Mr. Bear seemed like he'd ever obviously be pleased about anything. Lyra had decided it was better to say that she was lost- which she was- instead of admitting that she had run off after a bird that was nowhere to be found anymore. The Swedish man had told her, in as few words as possible, that he had a very important meeting to get to but he would help her afterwards. Lyra had offered to stay put and wait for him but he hadn't seemed to like that idea much, either, as her suggestion had only prompted him to pick her up and take her with him. Which was exactly how Lyra ended up in a room full of what normally would have been very impressive men in suits. At the moment, though, they simply seemed to be caught somewhere between confused and worried as to why the tall, quiet man currently had a six year old girl on his lap.

"…Who's that you got there, Berwald?" One of them finally asked, in what was probably one of the only accents Lyra recognized. She also noticed that he- like a lot of men in the room- was blonde but, unlike most of the other men in the room, his eyebrows reminded her more of those fuzzy caterpillars.

"D'nno." Mr. Bear's answer didn't seem to alleviate anyone's worries. "F'und h'r 'n th' h'llw'y. C'ldn't jus' l've h'r th're."

"Mr. Bear offered to help me after his meeting." There was some quiet snickering at the small girl's nickname for the Swedish man. Though if Mr. Bear even noticed, or mined, Lyra wasn't sure.

"Nonsense!" A different blonde man exclaimed, this one with glasses and a grin about as big as his face. "I'm a hero, I'll help you now!" With that the self-proclaimed hero plucked the girl from her spot on Mr. Bear's lap and proceeded to head out the door, apparently not bothered at all by the importance of the meeting he was supposed to be in. Things started going downhill from there. Mr. Bear was on his feet as soon as the bespectacled man reached the door, apparently not trusting the hero to be much help at all. Hurrying after the Swedish man was a rather short man with a cute hat- Lyra vaguely recalled Mr. Bear saying that was his 'wife'- trying to keep the taller man from making too much of a commotion. Promptly following after Mr. Bear's wife came a rather excitable Italian exclaiming how he wanted to go play too. Several more people filtered out of the room, either mildly interested to see what happened next or using the opportunity to escape the stuffy meeting. The last thing Lyra saw before the man carrying her rounded a corner was a very angry looking German man shouting about how the meeting wasn't over; it hadn't even started yet.

It took over an hour and nearly two treks around the building before the ramshackle group finally located Lyra's father. Once the security officer caught sight of his formerly missing daughter, safe and sound, he proceeded to drop everything he was carrying (in a manner very unbefitting of someone working for the UN) and sprint over. Scooping her up in one quick motion and alternately scolding her for running off, assuring himself that she was perfectly fine, and thanking those who found her.

Eventually the day drew to a close and as father and daughter made their way towards home the small blonde girl posed a single question, looking up at him with big brown eyes. "Can I go back again tomorrow?"


	3. Interaction

Several weeks later found Lyra seated on the floor, in a corner of the entrance way, generally unnoticed by the busy politicians moving about. Nathaniel Blake hadn't had any luck finding a new babysitter, though not for lack of trying, and since it was summer and Lyra was out of school the man had little choice but to continue to take her into work with him. Usually, she stayed close to her father's office or the spot she currently occupied that she had claimed as her 'own'. Occasionally though she would follow Mr. Bear or Alfred (the 'hero' from her first visit) to meetings or simply around the building. While she didn't understand what everyone would argue about during their meetings, it sure was entertaining to watch.

A small pile of blank paper and an open box of crayons sat in front of the small girl, a number of the papers scattered about her, already covered in crayon scribbles. Her face scrunched as she concentrated on her current project, tongue poking out between her lips, yellow crayon moving across the page. After a few moments Lyra paused, holding up the paper so she could better inspect her drawing. It was about that time that a shadow blocked the sunbeam she was currently seated in.

"What're you drawing, Täubchen?" Lyra blinked and looked over the top of her paper to find Gilbert- the angry German from the first meeting's older and less angry brother- looking down at her, the very bird that she had followed in the first place perched on his head. The blonde girl had gotten used to strange sounding nicknames fairly quickly, even if she didn't always remember what they meant.

Chocolate eyes glanced down at the paper in her hands before turning her gaze back on the albino. She repeated the action several more times before she set the paper, face down, on her stack of blank papers.

"Nothing." The man in front of her arched an eyebrow at her response, kneeling down and picking up the paper.

"You won't mind if I look, then." On the page was a mess of blue and yellow. Upon closer inspection the picture turned out to be a yellow bird in flight. More specifically, the bird that was perched contently on his head. A mildly surprised look formed on his face. "You drew Bird?"

Lyra nodded slowly, looking embarrassed. She liked to draw but, as a six year old, she was aware that she wasn't very good. Her mother had always used to tell her that to get better things like that needed practice and Lyra hadn't thought she'd practiced enough to show people yet. Sure, her father always told her they were good but half the time Lyra was pretty sure he didn't know what she had drawn.

"What do you think, Bird?" Gilbert held the drawing up for him to see. The fluffy yellow bird blinked and tilted his head to the side before puffing up his feathers proudly and chirping. "Bird likes it." Lyra tilted her head slightly to the side, considering something.

"You should keep it."

"Aren't you giving it to your dad?" Lyra shook her head, putting her crayons back into the box.

"No, It was for you. I just didn't think this one was very good." The small girl finished gathering her drawing things in her tiny arms and stood up. "It's time for lunch now. Bye-bye, Bird, Gilbo." With that the six year old hurried off to where her father was waiting for her, packed lunch in hand.


	4. Russians and Four in the Morning

A/N: Not quite as long as I would have liked, but oh well. Technically, this is a continuation of 'Interaction' but since I wanted to do different parts with her at different ages I decided it was best to separate them into different chapters.

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Lyra woke with a start, eyes searching around her still dark bedroom to find the source of her awaking at...what time was it? The ten year old turned her head to stare wearily at her bedside clock. What she found, however, was not her clock but a tall, dark...something sitting inches from her bedside. The blonde girl bit back a scream, nearly falling out of bed as she backed up out of reflex before she realized that she recognized that tall, grinning shadow.

"I-Ivan?" If it were possible the cheshire-esque smile showing through the darkness in front of her grew, and a second later the light on her bedside table clicked on.

"Da."

"How did you get in my house?" The blonde girl demanded as she rubbed her eyes, attempting to clear the spots from her vision.

"I have key, da."

"No you d-" Lyra's protests were silenced when the man did, in fact, produce a key from his pocket. The blonde girl squinted slightly, leaning closer to get a better look at the key in the Russian's hand. "Is that the key I lost last week?" The beige haired man in front of her didn't answer right away. In fact, Lyra was almost certain he was avoiding her gaze.

"...Niet." The middle schooler's expression deadpanned.

"Are you lying to me?" The man in front of her laughed.

"Lying is bad, da?" He told her, his usual smile returning to his face as he patted her on the head.

"Nevermind, Ivan." Lyra sighed, knowing it was no use arguing with him on the matter. "What are you doing here at-" She paused, leaning around him to see her clock. "Four...in the morning..." The only saving grace about her current situation was that it was the weekend. She would be able to go back to sleep, eventually.

"I heard you talking to Toris, da. You want to learn to ice skate, yes? I will teach you." Lyra stared at the smiling Russian, trying to comprehend what exactly he was saying with her sleep-addled mind.

"Ivan, that's really sweet but-"

"We go now, da." With that the Russian stood, plucking the ten year old from the warmth of her bed, despite her sputtered protests.

It took two hours, a change of clothes, a call to her father, and breakfast before Lyra figured out why Ivan had thought it alright to abduct her from her bedroom. Apparently, before Ivan had chosen to lurk in the dark of her bedroom he had gone to speak with her father. Unfortunately, Ivan hadn't bothered to actually wake him and had taken his sleep talking (mumbled mutterings that sounded vaguely like 'uh-huh') as consent to carry off his ten year old daughter in the early morning hours. Though Lyra was eventually able to make the Russian aware of his error, she was never able to dissuade him from teaching her how to ice skate. This meant that, for the next several years, her winter weekends were occupied with lack of sleep, ice skates and grinning Russians waking her up at ungodly morning hours.


	5. The Not So Great Crêpe War

A/N: I was originally going to have her be 17 in this drabble but I forgot what I was going to do for the next chapter. *sweatdrop* So now she's around 13-15, still young enough to completely over react about dessert. Though, honestly, if someone gave me a half-assed dessert under false pretenses, I'd be pissed off too. Also, much love to everyone who has favorited/commented/added this story to their alerts. You guys are the best.

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When Gilbert had brought Lyra a chocolate banana crêpe from his lunch out with Antonio and Francis she had been elated. Not only had the borderline narcissist thought of someone besides his brother but he had even brought her something chocolatey and delicious. It was one of the few times Lyra would actually agree with the albino on how 'awesome' he was. The blonde had reached the point in the day where she needed some sort of pick-me-up to keep going and had been only seconds away from acting on a convoluted plan to mug one of the chocolate making nations for whatever chocolate they might have had on them when the Prussian had made his appearance. Lyra had been so happy that she wouldn't have to risk raiding Switzerland that she had kissed the albino on the cheek before she had ran off to enjoy her snack.

"Ah, _mi amigo_, I don't think you should have done that." The Spaniard spoke as the blonde girl disappeared around the corner at the end of the hallway.

"I simply do not understand your way of flirting." Francis flipped his hair over his shoulder and sparkled in a very French way. "You are not doing yourself any favors with _ma petit lapon_."

"Flirting?" Gilbert repeated, turning his head to eye the Frenchman. "Who the hell is flirting?" The other two-thirds of the Trio exchanged looks.

"Hopeless." They declared with exasperated sighs.

Elsewhere, Lyra plopped down into the first vacated chair that she found, eager to start on her treat. Three bites later, she began to realize that something was horribly wrong. Carefully, Lyra began to pick apart the contents of the crêpe, examining every inch.

"What the-? How the-?" Somehow that sneaky albino bastard had managed to remove- and most likely eat- every little bit of chocolate, leaving behind only banana and crêpe. Chocolate eyes narrowed over the lid of the container as Lyra realized this, fist closing around the plastic fork as she stabbed it into the worthless dessert and styrofoam container, seething in silent anger. She would not stand for such an insult!

With anger unrivaled, Lyra made her way down the hallway and to the room where the Countries usually held their meetings. As she flung open the door, it bounced against the wall with enough force to make the Italians jump in surprise. Before she could be stopped, the volatile blonde made her way over to the table, climbed on top of it for a better vantage point, and made her way over to where the albino sat.

"I declare war on the Kingdom of Prussia!" Lyra exclaimed, pointing dramatically at the staring man.

"Don't you think you're over reacting?"

"War!" Before she could kick him in the face to further emphasize her point, Bear lunged across the table and pulled her off. Much to Elizabeta's dismay, as she insisted that the Swedish man should have let Lyra kick the bane of the Hungarian's existence in the face before being carted off. Bear, of course, ignored her as he carried the protesting blonde girl out of the meeting room. As the door shut behind the Swedish man and his cursing captive, all heads turned to stare at the albino.

"What did you do?"

It took several hours for the former Viking to convince the angered Lyra that it wasn't nice nor appropriate for her to declare war on anyone because of a dessert, despite the girl's protests that she had already begun printing propaganda papers and she could have several alliances by noon tomorrow. The Nordic nation continued remain adamant about the matter and Lyra was left to accept the fact that she couldn't just wage war for no apparent reason. Especially since she didn't actually have control over the American military. In spite of the fact that Lyra couldn't get the revenge she had wanted, it still took several weeks for the girl to again acknowledge Gilbert's existence.


	6. Elysia

A/N: So this chapter is technically a bonus because I wrote it for destinyswindow, whom Elysia belongs to. Elysia is the main character in destinyswindow's story 'Difference of Opinion'. It's quite possible that Elysia will make appearances in future chapters as well.

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Lyra yawned and shifted irritably on her feet. Muttering under her breath, she stuffed her hands into the pockets of Alfred's bomber jacket that she had taken from him shortly after arriving at the airport. New York mornings were cold and they were there at an ungodly hour only Roddie could be responsible for. If it wasn't for the fact that the Austrian was bringing with him one of Lyra's few non-Country friends, she wouldn't even be here at all. She would still be in bed, warm and asleep, dreaming about...Something in the pocket crinkled, drawing the blonde from her imagining. Lyra pulled a face, removing from the pocket a crumbled up hamburger wrapper and several napkins.

"Ugh, Alfred." The blonde nation looked up from the large to-go cup of coffee and muscle car magazine he was currently occupying himself with.

"What?" The wrapper and napkins successfully bounced off his face and landed in the nearby trash can.

"You're gross."

"Heroes aren't gross, Lyra."

"Then learn to throw away your trash." The blonde girl was now riffling through the pockets of the borrowed jacket and tossing all the trash she found into the bin (and occasionally at the Country in hopes of proving her point). "When is their plane supposed to land, anyway? We've already been here for two hours." There was a pause as Alfred folded his magazine over and stuck it into his back pocket.

"There they are." Sure enough, coming down the escalator and into the baggage claim were the four people Lyra and Alfred had been waiting for. Elysia was in the lead, hands stuffed into the front pocket of her hoodie, dark hair pulled up into a messy ponytail- Lyra noted absently that the shock of color in her bangs was now a bright pink. She looked about as enthused with this whole thing as Lyra, her expression stuck somewhere between tired and irritated. On the step behind her was the Austrian responsible for choosing a flight that arrived Stateside at six in the morning. Karma seemed to be getting an adequate revenge, however, as Gilbo was currently trying (and succeeding) to pester the musician from around his brother, who was standing in between the two out of what was a failing hope of keeping them from arguing. Apparently, Roddie had purposely made the Prussian ride in Coach and he was making his displeasure known to all.

"Elysia." At the sound of her name the older girl looked up, a grin immediately lighting up her face as she recognized the speaker.

"Lyra!" Elysia dropped her carry-on bag at the foot of the escalator and hurried over to the blonde girl, immediately engulfing her in a hug once she was close enough. "I missed you so much! You have no idea how horrible the trip was. No one would let me sleep. Gilbert kept moving up to First Class and hitting on the flight attendants to let him stay, then Roddie would start arguing with him and eventually Ludwig would start yelling at his brother to behave. It was horrible." Elysia practically sobbed into her friend's shoulder, most likely due to the sleep deprivation and a plane ride no person could walk away from completely sane.

It was about the time the musical protégé finished her rant that the other three finally made their way over to the Americans; Gilbert grinning from ear to ear, apparently rather pleased with himself and the chaos he caused, Roderich looking as annoyed as he ever did when he was forced to be around the albino, and poor West looking like he could use a beer, Elysia's carry-on bag now over his shoulder.

"Lyra. Alfred." Roderich greeted shortly as he readjusted his glasses.

"Roddie." The blonde girl mimicked, earning her a bit of a look. It seemed the Austrian was as fond of his nickname as ever. Though she couldn't be sure, Lyra thought she heard Ludwig chuckle good-naturedly, patting her briefly on the head as he moved past to pick up the luggage with Alfred. Never missing an opportunity to hug either girl, let alone both at the same time, Gilbert moved forward and wrapped his arms around the two, lifting them both from the ground for a moment. As he returned the two to their feet, the former nation pulled a face, stepping back slightly to look down at the blonde girl.

"You smell like Alfred."

"That's what that is!" Elysia exclaimed, wheeling around and grabbing the younger girl by the lapels of her borrowed jacket, shaking her slightly. "Do you know how long it's been since I've had McDonalds? Six months! And you smell like hamburgers!" Lyra's eyes widened slightly as she was progressively shaken harder with each statement before she was practically dropped onto the floor as the musician turned her rage onto her home country. "Alfred! I demand a cheeseburger!"

"I will never understand you Americans and your fondness for those disgusting things." The Austrian spoke as Lyra picked herself up from the floor (Gilbo not so much helping as he seemed to be trying to use the opportunity to cop a feel).

The blonde rolled her eyes as she attempted to put a stop to the albino's 'help'. Roddie always had to have something to complain about. Any more complaints from the Austrian, or any arguments that would follow, were avoided when the pianist moved to pry his student from her home country before she hurt him in her cheeseburger withdrawal craze. Lyra blinked once, then twice, tilting her head slightly as she took in the scene before her.

"Hey, Gilbo..." The Prussian grunted, rubbing the side of his face where she had elbowed him moments earlier. "Are those two...involved?" Gilbert gave the girl a relatively confused look as he turned his head to follow her gaze.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Roddie and Elysia, of course." The elder Beilschmidt's expression deadpanned at the very accusation, apparently having a hard time believing the two could ever be involved. "Some people do find him attractive, you know." She reminded him with a sigh, to which the albino laughed.

"Like who?" Lyra rubbed at her temple in exasperation. She knew that Gilbo hated everything about Roddie but wasn't that taking it just a little too far?

"Gilbert, stop bothering her." Ludwig spoke up. "We're leaving." The two looked over to the rest of the group. Sure enough, everyone's bags had been gathered and they had moved from the baggage claim area to the door. There was a flurry of movement, an impromptu race over to the group in which Lyra tripped Gilbo when he started to pull ahead and then proceeded to hide behind his brother when the tactic nearly caused the albino to go tumbling, face first, onto the floor. Elysia had to giggle at the expression on the blonde German's face as Lyra had her arms latched around his waist, effectively using him as a human shield against his brother. The situation was eventually resolved but not before Alfred jumped in, attempting to 'rescue' Lyra, and Elysia snatched up the remainder of his then unsupervised coffee for herself, downing it before the Hero even took notice.

The ride to the United Nations building was fairly uneventful. Unless, of course, you counted Alfred complaining the whole way about how he had to rent a minivan to fit everyone and that heroes didn't drive minivans, and Gilbert made inappropriate comments the whole time about being in the very back seat with both the girls.

Once they entered the building the two girls broke off from the group, waiting around only long enough for Elysia to find a safe spot to leave her baggage for the day and then disappearing. It wasn't until, hours later, when Berwald and his 'wife' entered the meeting room that an explanation of where the two girls wandered off to was given. Apparently they had taken over the coat room, formed what could only be called a 'coat nest' big enough for the two of them, and were currently asleep, joined by Bird and several of the cats that followed around Heracles.

Around noon, Lyra unearthed herself from the mass of coats she and Elysia had been using in lieu of a bed. Bird chirped indignantly, having been dislodged from his perch on her head, before settling down in the warm spot she had just vacated. Lyra yawned and ran a hand through her hair, glancing over at the other girl. Elysia was still sleeping, cuddling both a cat and what looked like Roddie's coat. The blonde grinned slightly as she noticed this, leaving the room quietly and closing the door behind her. She had a few questions for the Austrian.

Roderich sighed softly as he sat back in his chair, cup of tea in his hand. The meeting had stopped for lunch and the room had practically been vacated, save for a few of the other tea drinking nations using their break time in the same way. Since that idiot had left the room with his brother perhaps Roderich could relax for a moment. Of course, as soon as the thought crossed his mind a certain American draped herself over the back of his chair, arms around his shoulders.

"Lyra."

"Roddie~." The pianist knew that tone of voice, as well as the grin plastered on her face. The blonde had noticed something and she was about to go probing for answers. "Have you kissed her yet?" Roderich sputtered in quite an undignified manner, caught completely off guard by the bluntness of the girl's question, having been only mere seconds from taking a sip of his tea.

"Excuse me?"

"Elysia. Have you kissed her yet?" There was no immediate response as the aristocratic nation attempted to regain his earlier composure.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Lyra sniggered, apparently not believing him for an instant.

"Oh, Roddie, you're so cute." She told him, poking his cheek lightly (much to his annoyance). There was a pause as the blonde blinked, a thought occurring to her. "Well, maybe you aren't aware. The sexual tension isn't strong enough yet to smack you in the face." There was mixed coughing and sputtering from those few in the room that had been unfortunate enough to be drinking when the girl had spoken, a mumbled 'Aiya' from Yao, and poor Kiku had actually dropped his cup and was now having to mop up the mess before the tea leaked over the side of the table and onto his suit. No one in the room had been quite prepared to hear the girl who used to be so small and cute talk of sexual tension. The musician coughed slightly, once again left to try to regain his composure.

"Where is Elysia?" He questioned in hopes of dropping the current subject.

"Oh, she's still sleeping. Did you know she's snuggling your coat?" Now there was muffled snickering from a few of the people in the room. The Austrian sighed, his free hand rubbing lightly at his temple. He was beginning to get a headache.

"Perhaps you shouldn't leave her alone. She doesn't know as many of us as you do."

"Why? Who's here?" While Lyra hadn't seen the roster of what Countries and diplomats were in the building today, she hadn't thought there would have been a problem with leaving Elysia unsupervised while she was napping. At that moment Lyra's question was basically answered for her as her friend's voice echoed through the hallway.

"Lyra told me to say no!" Followed by what could only be the sound of Elysia running, full speed, down the hallway.

"Oh. Ivan." While it was true Lyra had warned Elysia about Ivan's 'Become one' question and how she should respond, Lyra hadn't thought that the brunette would react in such a way when she actually saw him. The blonde detached herself from about the Austrian's shoulders and poked her head out of the doorway, where she found the Russian at the end of the hallway, looking rather sad.

"I was just trying to say hello, da." Lyra stepped out of the room and walked over to the tall Country and tugging lightly on his coat sleeve to gain his attention.

"Ivan?" Violet eyes blinked before looking down at the blonde. "Do you want a hug?" It was her fault Elysia had over reacted after all, the least Lyra could do was hug the man to make him feel better. Her question wasn't so much answered as it was demonstrated when the Slavic nation wrapped her up in a hug, her feet leaving the ground as he straightened.

"Da, that's better."

It took several minutes for Lyra to be returned to her feet, and then several more to be released from the Russian's hug. By the time the teenager returned to continue to pester the Austrian about his relationship with her friend, Roderich had vanished, taking his tea cup with him. The blonde girl humphed, crossing her arms. As far as she was concerned the fact that he seemed to be hiding from her only verified her theory. Lyra flopped down into the recently vacated chair and propped her feet up on the table, thinking. It wasn't as if Roddie would talk to anyone about his feelings or anything like that.

"I know that look. Haven't you learned your lesson about meddling yet?" Lyra blinked and looked over at the British man, who was refilling his tea cup.

"What do you mean? I don't meddle."

"Of course not. What would you call it, then?" Lyra paused, milling over the question.

"Amusing?" She offered with a bit of a grin. Judging from the look on Arthur's face, he disagreed. "Oh, fine." She started, spinning the chair around. "But I'm not meddling. I'm just trying to get some information. No one tells me anything anymore."

Arthur sighed around his tea cup. Things were so much simpler when she was younger and content to scribble on scrap paper. Now she was running about talking of sexual tension and relationships she very well could have imagined.

"Do you think I should go find her?" Lyra stopped her chair spinning and turned her attention once again to the doorway.

"I'm sure that's where Roderich went." Arthur knew that the statement would only encourage the girl's ideas about the Austrian and his student but it was very unlikely that Roderich would let his charge run about the U.N. unsupervised.

"If he doesn't make it back in time can I be Austria for the rest of the meeting?"

"No."

"Killjoy."

As it turned out the Austrian never returned for the rest of the meeting but he must have come across West, as the German had all of Roderich's notes. Lyra successfully occupied Austria's chair, though she still hadn't been allowed to act as the Germanic nation in his absence. Both Elysia and Roderich reappeared by the time the meeting let out, Lyra, Alfred, Ludwig, and Gilbert coming across them in the building's entry way. Elysia seemed to be trying to persuade Roddie to let her continue to wear his jacket, at least until they arrived at the hotel. It didn't seem to be going well.

"But Roddie!"

"You have a perfectly fine sweatshirt and coat, you do not need mine as well."

"But Lyra's still wearing Alfred's." The blonde girl blinked and looked down to discover that she was, indeed, still wearing Alfred's bomber jacket. She had completely forgotten.

"That is different." Roderich stated while Alfred reminded Lyra that he would be needing his jacket back. "Lyra was foolish enough to leave her house without a jacket of her own. You were not." Elysia huffed, realizing that she had little chance of winning this argument as it was. In a moment of brilliance, an idea occurred to her.

"I'll give you back your jacket if you take me to McDonalds and Starbucks." One way or another, Elysia would get her way. Either the stuffy Austrian would let her keep his jacket for the rest of the day or she would get the American staples she so craved.

"Very well," Roderich sighed, adjusting his glasses in defeat. "You may borrow the jacket."


	7. Attraction

Hey guys. Sorry it took so long to update. I wasn't sure how to start this chapter and then Finals Week snuck up on me. Hopefully I'll be able to update more with Summer break.

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It was unfair. It was really unfair. It was almost ridiculous how unfair it was. Why was it that they insisted on using her apartment like it was their own? Lyra might have understood it when she was younger and needed supervision but now she was seventeen and there were limits to such things.

Ivan, who never had returned the key he 'found' when she was ten, would randomly let himself in whenever he was in town and kept his vodka in her fridge. Alfred practically lived there, what with him showing up for breakfast and most dinners. (Though his excuse was he was keeping her from being lonely, with the odd hours her father sometimes worked.) Occasionally Yao would show up at her door to insist on cooking dinner- despite the fact that Lyra had been able to cook for herself for years- or to make sure she was 'eating right' (which usually meant keeping the Chinese man away from the pantry full of junk food). Whenever he was in town with extra time on his hands, Bear would peer over her shoulder as she did her homework and send her to bed by nine. Lyra had the sneaking suspicion that none of her Country friends actually saw her as anything other than the six year old they had first met.

Currently, Gilbert was wandering around her kitchen in nothing more than a towel- having shown up unannounced, barged in, used her shower, and then complained about her 'girly' shampoo. It was taking a great deal more effort than she would like to admit for her not to follow him around the room with her eyes. Though Lyra was already certain that her face was quite red, none the less.

"Remind me again, why couldn't you have just taken a shower in your hotel room?" Lyra questioned as the albino opened a beer Lyra didn't remember being in her fridge earlier that day.

"I'm babysitting, of course." The Prussian cackled as he avoided the pencil the blonde girl threw at his head, Bird flying from his usual perch and retrieving Lyra's pencil.

"Who needs babysitting?" The blonde girl huffed, patting the fuzzy yellow puffball on his head as he landed beside her, pencil in beak. Of course, if she thought about it, it was quite possible that Ludwig had sent his brother over here to keep him out of trouble and she was actually the one doing the babysitting. Ludwig would never admit that was the case, however. "Nevermind. Are you going to put pants on?"

Gilbert milled over the question for a few seconds, sipping his beer. "No." Lyra sighed, putting a hand on her forehead as she returned her attention to the homework in front of her, trying her hardest to ignore the near naked man in her kitchen. She really should have been expecting such an answer.

"_Täubchen_." Lyra didn't look up from her text book. She could just hear the grin in his voice.

"What?" Unfortunately for the blonde her respite was short lived as the albino's hand covered the words she was currently trying to read, leaving her without an excuse to keep from looking at him.

"Why won't you look at me?" Lyra's expression scrunched in an irritated sort of why.

_Oh, you know damn well why_. She thought bitterly, debating if she should jab him with her pencil for good measure. With an aggravated sigh the blonde turned her gaze from her covered text book to look up at the man before he decided to make her.

_God damnit_. That man had to have possibly the most distracting pair of eyes imaginable. Just meeting his eyes should not cause her train of thought to derail and crash spectacularly. Lyra was sure that she was quite a sight, as if Gilbo's broadening grin wasn't clue enough she was sure the color had returned to her cheeks and, no longer able to remember what she had been going to say, her mouth slightly ajar. She was never going to live this down.

"Lyra, the meeting is over. I've come to get br-" Ludwig paused in the doorway to the kitchen, stopping dead at the scene before him. The German man looking quite like he had just been hit in the face with one of his own porn magazines.

"Hey, West." Gilbert greeted, waiving with the hand that held his beer as if he wasn't standing practically naked in front of, and very close to, a very embarrassed Lyra. "Have a beer."

"_Br-Bruder!_ What are you doing? Where are your clothes?" West crossed the room in a few long strides, reaching up to cover Lyra's eyes with a hand. Ludwig continued to yell at his older brother, though he had switched to German, and Lyra couldn't help but think that it would be a very long time before she was ever left alone with Gilbert again. Though, at the moment, she wasn't sure she minded.


	8. Questions

So I had two other chapters I was working on before this but destinyswindow gave me the idea and I just had to write it. She's writing a chapter that directly follows this one. I told her we may have to post each other's chapters in our respective stories as to not confuse people, but we'll see.

'Was' is the German word for 'What', not the English word 'was'. Like 'something was this'.

So...yeah...Special thanks to destinyswindow for the idea.

* * *

"So," Elysia started one morning as she moved from the hallway in to Gilbert's hotel room. She had been down in the dining room having breakfast with Roderich and Ludwig when the German asked her if she would wake his brother so they could leave in time for their morning meeting.

On the way down the third floor hallway, where their rooms were located, Elysia passed a vaguely familiar looking, large breasted, skimpily dressed woman coming from the albino's room. "How often do you get your one night stands confused with Lyra?"

The Prussian stuck his head out of the bathroom, where he was currently brushing his teeth, giving her a confused look. "Was?"

Elysia shrugged, despite knowing full and well what she was talking about. "How often do you call out Lyra's name instead of whatever girl you're with for the night?"

"What the hell are you talking about? What kind of question is that?" Gilbert disappeared from the bathroom doorframe for a moment to finish brushing his teeth and rinse out his toothbrush. When he walked out Elysia noted that he was barely half-dressed and what looked like a number of bite marks and hickeys on his neck and shoulders. The brunette had to beat back the urge to roll her eyes at the sight of them and the fact that the man who could tell in an instant if a woman wanted to have sex, or a casual fling, was having so much trouble realizing his own feelings.

"A legitimate one considering all the girls I've seen you with are blonde and, back in Germany, usually American tourists."

"So?" Gilbert continued, moving past her to the small hotel closet, rummaging inside for a shirt.

"So I think you might wish it was a certain other blonde, American we both know...and it's not Alfred."

"There are a lot of blondes," Gilbert argued, pulling on a shirt and looking himself over in the mirror. "Especially in Germany. West likes blondes too, are you saying he has a thing for Lyra as well?"

Elysia huffed, quickly becoming increasingly annoyed with the way this conversation was going. Lyra was well aware of Gilbert's sexual escapades (after all, the albino wasn't exactly subtle about it) and while the blonde always insisted that she wasn't bothered, Elysia could tell it hurt her. The pianist understood Gilbert's tendency towards casual, sex-filled relationships. He had commitment issues and he probably hadn't given much thought to a normal, committed relationship in a very, very long time. But every time they were Stateside that parade of women in and out of his room seemed to increase to almost ridiculous proportions. Gilbert and Lyra were Elysia's best friends and it was driving her up a wall to see them upset and hurting, especially when the problem was so easy to fix if they would stop being so god damed stubborn.

"But your girls have an uncanny resemblance to Lyra. I think you're in denial." By this time Gilbert was fully dressed and the two had left the hotel room, moving down to the lobby to meet up with Ludwig and Roderich. The albino still wasn't listening to the Austrian's student. In fact, Elysia was fairly sure he was now ignoring her. The brunette could feel her temper beginning to flare.

"Let me put this in simple terms for you Gilbert, all the girls you fuck look like Lyra and it's because you want to be with Lyra, but are in denial about actually caring for her because you're too used to your shallow, skin deep, just-for-the-fuck relationships."

The former Country stopped in mid-step, turning slowly to look at her over his shoulder. He had opened his mouth, about to say something, but they were already in the hotel's lobby by that point and Roderich spoke first.

"Elysia, there is no point in arguing with him. Gilbert is about as dense as a block of concrete. No matter how clear you are, or how may times you say it, he simply won't understand."

Elysia could have smacked the stuck-up Austrian. If Gilbert hadn't been listening to her before, there was no way he was going to listen now that Roderich had baited him. Sure enough, the two launched in to their usual name calling and childish arguing. Though Gilbert seemed more rilled up than usual after Elysia's attempts to make him see the truth. Before the fight could turn physical (and it was quickly headed that way) Ludwig stepped between the two, physically separating his brother from the Austrian.

"Enough." The German's voice was stern and his gaze was directed at his older brother, who was the most likely to try to continue the argument through violence. Gilbert shoved past his brother, purposefully knocking into Roderich as he passed, walking out the door. Ludwig heaved a heavy sigh, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. It was far too early for a headache. As the two Germanic Countries exited the hotel as well, Elysia still mentally fumed at this whole ordeal. She wasn't about to just let the issue drop, though it seemed she would have to wait to bring it up again. Elysia would get a straight answer out of Gilbert if it killed her.


End file.
